Newsline - October 3, 1996

YANDARBIEV GOES TO MOSCOW, KHASBULATOV ARRIVES IN GROZNY. Acting Chechen
President Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, accompanied by four senior government members
and OSCE representative Tim Guldimann, left Nazran on 3 October for talks in
Moscow with Russian leaders including Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin,
Western agencies reported. Argumenty i fakty reported on 2 October that
Yandarbiev wants to discuss the ongoing withdrawal of Russian troops from
Chechnya and compensation for war damages. Other Russian sources suggested that
the two sides will also discuss the future Chechen coalition government, which
Yandarbiev wishes to head. Yandarbiev also argued that the 30 August Khasavyurt
agreement confirmed that Chechnya had been independent since 1991 since it
stipulated that Russia and Chechnya should formulate their relations in
accordance with international law. Also on 2 October, former Russian parliament
speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov arrived in Grozny to attend the congress of the
People's Union for Rebirth Party which he chairs, NTV reported. -- Liz Fuller

YELTSIN ADDRESSES COUNTRY BY RADIO. In a 3 October radio broadcast,
President Boris Yeltsin sought to reassure his country that he was still in
charge despite the fact that he has been in the hospital since 12 September,
ITAR-TASS reported. Yeltsin rebutted those like Communist leader Gennadii
Zyuganov, who have called on him to step down, saying that they are "working
only for themselves." He also expressed concern about the situation in the
military and said that he expected the first meeting of the Defense Council on
4 October to "yield concrete decisions." Yeltsin's staff announced on 2 October
that he plans to make regular radio addresses, "since some parts of the country
still don't receive TV broadcasts," Kommersant-Daily reported. The
newspaper noted that the timing of this decision suggests that Yeltsin does not
look healthy enough to appear on TV. -- Robert Orttung

DUMA OPENS WITH POLITICAL SPEECHES. . . Members of the pro-government
Our Home Is Russia (NDR) State Duma faction complained that "there was a great
abyss between the legislative work plan and the speeches of the opposition
leaders" on the first day of the Duma's fall session on 2 October,
Nezavisimaya gazeta reported. Among the leading items on the agenda are
discussion of the government's package of tax proposals and the 1997 budget.
Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov called for the creation of a state
council that would bring together legislative and executive branch leaders to
resolve priority problems, warning that Russia could suffer the same fate as
the Soviet Union unless it is guided by strong leadership. He did not, however,
call for a commission to examine President Yeltsin's health as many observers
had expected. -- Robert Orttung

. . . AND DISCUSSION OF CHECHNYA. Arguing that there is no way to solve
the Chechen conflict through force, Security Council Secretary Aleksandr Lebed
told the Duma on 2 October that 80,000 to 100,000 people died in the fighting,
including 3,726 federal troops, NTV reported. An additional 17,892 troops on
the federal side were wounded and 1,906 are missing. In contrast, Interior
Minister Anatolii Kulikov warned against "appeasing the aggressors" and
described Lebed's Khasavyurt agreement as "a cover for unilateral, boundless
concessions in the most humiliating and destructive forms" that will lead to a
"state catastrophe" and numerous new conflicts. Duma Defense Committee Chairman
Lev Rokhlin warned that the peace in Chechnya would send "a huge criminal mass"
into Dagestan and suggested sending additional troops there to secure the
republic's border with Chechnya. -- Robert Orttung

LEBED WILL NOT CONTROL MILITARY APPOINTMENTS. Presidential Chief of
Staff Anatolii Chubais announced that Yeltsin overrode Security Council
Secretary Lebed's objections and appointed Defense Council Secretary Yurii
Baturin to head the presidential commission that approves all high-ranking
military promotions, Kommersant-Daily reported on 3 October. Chubais
rejected Lebed's accusations that he has been issuing decrees without President
Yeltsin's knowledge. Chubais also denied rumors that he has millions of dollars
in foreign bank accounts. However, he said his income increased significantly
during the six months that he did not hold a government position, when he was
paid "tens of thousands of dollars" for lectures. Chubais also called for the
creation of a data base that would contain the names of all civil servants in
Moscow and the regions to improve the efficiency of the state's overall
personnel policies. -- Robert Orttung

NEW APPOINTMENTS IN DEFENSE MINISTRY. President Yeltsin issued a decree
on 2 October filling six high-ranking positions in the Defense Ministry,
Russian media reported. Kommersant-Daily reported the next day that the
appointments had resulted from Defense Minister Igor Rodionov's 28 September
meeting with Yeltsin, and demonstrated that the minister is finally assembling
his leadership team, after months of having difficulties getting appointments
approved. Among the new appointees was Maj.-Gen. Georgii Oleinik, who was named
to the position of chief of the Main Directorate of Budget and Finance. The
post has been vacant since last November, when former chief Col.-Gen. Vasilii
Vorobev was dismissed amid allegations of corruption. Oleinik, who previously
headed the economics and finance department at a military academy, met
Rodionov's main requirement of having no connections with the financial
machinations of former Defense Minister Pavel Grachev's era. -- Scott Parrish

COMMUNISTS TO CONTEST ROSTOV RESULT. Duma deputies from the Communist
Party (KPRF) announced on 2 October that they will create a special Duma
commission to investigate evidence of falsification in the 29 September
gubernatorial election in Rostov Oblast, Izvestiya reported. According
to official results released by the Rostov Electoral Commission on 2 October,
incumbent Governor Vladimir Chub received 61% of the vote to just 32% for his
main challenger, KPRF Duma deputy Leonid Ivanchenko, ITAR-TASS reported.
However, the KPRF deputies said representatives of Ivanchenko's campaign were
unlawfully barred from the territorial electoral commissions, where votes were
tallied before being passed along to the regional commission, according to
Nezavisimaya gazeta on 3 October. They also claimed that a precedent for
vote-rigging in Rostov was set during the presidential election, when Zyuganov
outpolled Yeltsin in the first round but finished far behind in the 3 July
runoff. -- Laura Belin

MAYORAL ELECTION IN VLADIVOSTOK CANCELED. The Primorskii Krai
legislature canceled the mayoral election set for 6 October in Vladivostok and
postponed the election set for the city Duma until 22 December, as newly
reinstated Mayor Viktor Cherepkov had demanded, Russian media reported on 2
October. However, more than 80 employees of the city administration, who are
still loyal to former acting Mayor Konstantin Tolstoshein, expressed their
discontent with recent events by setting their vacations to coincide with
Cherepkov's return, Kommersant-Daily reported on 3 October. Since the
absent officials include all of Vladivostok's deputy mayors and heads of
departments, their temporary departure could hamper efforts to prepare the city
for winter. According to ITAR-TASS, Cherepkov has said previously that he will
sack officials who try to sabotage his efforts. -- Laura Belin

PRIMAKOV ON AFGHANISTAN, NATO. In an interview with NTV on 2 October,
Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov rejected the idea that Russia should
aid Afghan groups opposing the Taliban, as Security Council Secretary Lebed had
earlier suggested, saying it was better to "wait and see" how the situation
develops. Primakov reiterated Russian opposition to NATO expansion, and warned
that Russia would only sign a proposed Russia-NATO charter if it substantively
addressed Russian concerns. He added that whether NATO expands or not, Russia
wants a "modernization" of the 1990 CFE treaty which would reflect the new
European security situation. Primakov dismissed as a "maneuver" recent
suggestions that Russia apply for NATO membership. -- Scott Parrish

RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER IN SWITZERLAND. On a two-day visit to
Switzerland,Viktor Chernomyrdin met with Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio
Cotti and President Jean Delamuraz, Russian and Western agencies reported on 2
October. As Switzerland currently holds the rotating presidency of the OSCE,
Cotti and Chernomyrdin discussed Chechnya and European security issues.
Chernomyrdin also met in Lausanne with the head of the International Olympic
Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, to discuss St. Petersburg's bid to host the
2004 Summer Olympics. Kommersant-Daily on 3 October suggested that the
Olympic discussions may have been the main objective of his visit. -- Scott
Parrish

MOSCOW POLICE RAID MOSQUE. The Union of Muslims of Russia on 2 October
accused the Moscow police of inciting racial hatred, charging that police
officers had burst into a mosque and arrested about 20 worshippers as they
prayed. According to NTV, one man was beaten by OMON officers before the
detainees were finally released. Reports on the incident are conflicting. A
police spokesman interviewed by Nezavisimaya gazeta said that militia
and OMON officers were conducting a check of identification papers near the
mosque and that only one officer had entered the building. He was then
allegedly asked by a mosque official to remove three people, who were arrested
along with another nine people from a nearby cafe. According to ITAR-TASS,
Moscow police have launched an investigation into the incident. -- Penny
Morvant

FSB WINDS UP INVESTIGATION INTO NIKITIN CASE. Final formal charges have
been brought in the case of retired Navy Captain Aleksandr Nikitin, who was
arrested on 6 February in connection with his work for the Norwegian
environment organization Bellona, ITAR-TASS reported on 2 October. Nikitin has
been formally indicted for treason in the form of espionage, disclosing state
secrets, and using fake identification papers. A spokesman for the Federal
Security Service asserted that Nikitin used an out-of-date pass to visit
military facilities in St. Petersburg, where he examined top-secret documents.
He allegedly copied passages of those documents and used them in the Bellona
report on radioactive contamination of the Kola Peninsula. Bellona argues that
all the information contained in the report was publicly available. Several
international organizations, such as the European Parliament, have demanded his
immediate release. -- Penny Morvant

OSCE CASTS DOUBTS ON ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLL. The OSCE/ODIHR mission
issued a statement in Warsaw on 2 October noting "very serious breaches of the
election law" during last month's Armenian presidential election, AFP and
RFE/RL reported. The mission noted a discrepancy of 21,000 between the number
of ballots counted and the number of votes cast; President Levon Ter-Petrossyan
has claimed victory by a margin of less than 22,000 votes. Central Electoral
Commission Chairman Khachatour Bezirjian rejected the OSCE claims on the
grounds that the organization's tallies of irregularities are "not
mathematically correct," according to AFP. Opposition presidential candidate
Vazgen Manukyan on 2 October called for a second round of voting or a new
election. -- Liz Fuller

GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT MAY REASSESS POLICY TOWARDS RUSSIA. Meeting in
emergency session on 2 October, the Georgian parliament adopted a resolution
condemning as illegal the Abkhaz parliamentary election scheduled for 23
November, NTV reported. The resolution further described Russia's mediation
role as "unsatisfactory" and advocated the creation of a state commission to
reassess Georgia's entire policy toward Russia, including the issue of Russian
military bases, according to ITAR-TASS. Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister
Boris Pastukhov, who has been involved in mediating between Georgia and
Abkhazia since 1993, on 2 October said the Abkhaz decision to hold a new
parliamentary election was "not constructive" and added that it would disrupt
the ongoing search for a political settlement of the conflict, ITAR-TASS
reported. -- Liz Fuller

TRADE GROWTH REGISTERED BETWEEN KAZAKSTAN, RUSSIA. Trade between
Kazakstan and Russia grew by 80% in the first half of this year compared with
the same period last year, RFE/RL and Nezavisimaya gazeta reported.
Credit for the increase was given to the customs union, of which Kyrgyzstan and
Belarus are also members, by Kazakstani Deputy Prime Minister Nigmatzhan
Isingarin, who is the head of the customs union integration committee. However,
Russia is criticizing Kazakstan for permitting travelers to take as much as
$10,000 with them when they go abroad. Russian travelers are limited to $500
cash per person. -- Bruce Pannier and Merhat Sharipzhan

UZBEKISTAN BREAKS SILENCE ON AFGHANISTAN. Uzbekistan's Security Council
held an extraordinary session on 1 October to discuss the situation in
Afghanistan, Russian media reported the next day. Tashkent officially declared
its "serious concern" over events in that country and pledged itself to
pursuing a "peaceful foreign policy aimed at non-interference in the internal
affairs of neighboring countries" and a "peace settlement" in Afghanistan,
ITAR-TASS reported the same day. These remarks, virtually identical to those
expressed earlier by other Central Asian states and Russia, are the first to
emerge from Tashkent since the 26 September seizure of Kabul by Taliban
fighters. -- Lowell Bezanis

KYRGYZ JUDGES SACKED. The Kyrgyz government dismissed 39 judges and an
additional 11 resigned after they failed to pass a test on legal knowledge,
RFE/RL and Kyrgyz Radio reported on 30 September. Kyrgyzstan has only 237
official judges and 14 acting judges so the outgoing judges represent 20% of
the magistrates in the country. So far, 150 people have applied for the
positions, but only seven of the 30 who have taken the test actually passed it.
-- Bruce Pannier and Naryn Idinov

FORMER UKRAINIAN PREMIER PLANS PRESIDENTIAL BID. Yevhen Marchuk,
dismissed as prime minister in May, announced he will run against President
Leonid Kuchma in the 1999 presidential election, Ukrainian TV reported on 2
October, citing an interview in Kievskie vedomosti. Kuchma recently
announced he will seek re-election for a second five-year term. Marchuk made
his announcement after being elected head of the Social-Market Choice caucus in
the Ukrainian legislature. The 24-member group has attracted a number of the
country's ex-leaders, including former Prime Minister Vitalii Masol. Its
previous leader, Volodymyr Shcherban, recently fired as governor of Donetsk
Oblast, chose not to run for re-election. -- Chrystyna Lapychak

BELARUSIAN DEPUTIES LEAVE PRO-PRESIDENTIAL FACTION. A group of deputies
split off from the pro-presidential Sohlasiye faction in parliament and joined
the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Belarusian television reported on 1
October. Their leader, Aleh Harbunou, said Sohlasiye has not represented the
views of all deputies who have not joined the anti-presidential opposition. He
saidthe Belarusian LDP, which has existed since 1994, has 15,000
members. In other news, Belapan reported that 14 oppositionparties had
met at their regular "round-table" session and agreed to put forward joint
candidates in the 24 November parliamentary by-elections. -- Ustina Markus

BELARUSIAN NEWSPAPER REMAINS UNDER PRESIDENTIAL CONTROL. Deputy Leanid
Yunchyk, the parliament's appointee for editor-in-chief of the parliamentary
newspaper Narodnaya hazeta, has not been able to take over those duties
from President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's appointee to the post, Mikhail
Shymanski, Belapan reported on 1 October. Shymanski said he would not obey any
of the legislature's resolutions, only the president's. In other news, Reuters
reported that Lukashenka's deputy chief of staff, Uladzimir Zamyatalin, had
again accused the Russian media of bias in their reporting on Belarus.
Zamyatalin's latest attack against the Russian press was triggered by their
reporting on Russian President Boris Yeltsin's appeal to the Belarusian
parliament and president to compromise over their planned referendums. The
Russian media depicted it as a call on Lukashenka to back down. -- Ustina
Markus

LATVIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER TALKS REMAIN JAMMED OVER 1920 TREATY. At the
second round of Latvian-Russian border talks in Moscow on 1-2 October, Latvia
and Russia made no progress on the key issue of whether the 1920 peace treaty
signed by Latvia and Soviet Russia remains valid, Latvian delegation head
Aivars Vovers told BNS. According to the treaty, the Abrene district that was
incorporated into Russia in 1944 belongs to Latvia. The next round of talks is
scheduled for early November in Latvia. Meanwhile, Lithuanian Prime Minister
Mindaugas Stankevicius telephoned his Latvian counterpart Andris Skele on 2
October and presented new proposals on how to resolve the Lithuanian-Latvian
sea border dispute. Latvian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Maris Riekstins
said Latvia would think over these proposals, but was not optimistic about
swift results due to the ongoing election campaign in Lithuania. -- Saulius
Girnius

POLISH LIFE EXPECTANCY INCREASING. According to Poland's Central
Statistical Office, life expectancy for Poles increased during 1991-1995,
Gazeta Wyborcza reported on 3 October. On average, life expectancy for
women increased from 75.3 to 76.4 years, while that of men increased from 66.1
to 67.6 years. Demographers cautioned that these statistics do not mean that
Poles are living longer. Instead, a significant (30%) decline in infant
mortality, which on average increases age at the time of death, may be the most
important reason for the growing life expectancy. Men residing in cities tend
to out-live men in rural areas, presumably because of better access to health
care in urban areas and the burden of heavy physical labor in the countryside.
However, the study also found that rural women tended to outlive urban women.
-- Ben Slay

CZECH PARLIAMENT SETS UP ANOTHER INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE. The parliament
voted on 2 October to create a special 12-member committee to investigate the
privatization and functioning of Poldi Kladno, one of the largest
steel-producing companies in the Czech Republic, Czech media reported. Poldi
and its principal owner, Vladimir Stehlik, have been heavily indebted;
production at the company stopped several months ago, and the fate of some
5,000 employees remains uncertain. The government has been trying, so far
unsuccessfully, to force Stehlik out, accusing him of mismanagement. Stehlik
has accused the government's National Property Fund of blocking his efforts to
restart the company. The Social Democrats and Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus's
Civic Democratic Party will be represented by four deputies each on the
committee, while the other four parliamentary parties will be represented by
one deputy each. -- Jiri Pehe

SLOVAK ACTORS CALL STRIKE. During a rally in Bratislava on 2 October,
members of the Slovak National Theater announced an indefinite strike to begin
the following day, Slovak media and Reuters reported. Some 10,000 people
attended the rally, protesting government cultural policies and demanding the
dismissal of Culture Minister Ivan Hudec. Controversial policies include
Hudec's replacement on 1 October of National Theater director Dusan Jamrich
with a government ally, his dismissal of stage director Peter Mikulik in July,
and his plans to merge two Bratislava theaters. Popular actor Ladislav Chudik
said there will be no public performances until Mikulik is reinstated and a
proper competition is held for the post of director. National Theater employees
have not gone on strike since November 1989, when actors helped spark the
revolution that brought down the communist government. Also on 2 October, Hudec
fired Slovak Philharmonic chief Karol Faith. -- Sharon Fisher

SLOVAK IRONWORKS' BID FOR LARGER STAKE IN BANK REJECTED. The Slovak
National Bank (NBS) rejected a request from the Kosice-based ironworks VSZ to
increase its stake in the Investicna a rozvojova banka (IRB) on 2 October,
Narodna obroda reported. When the request was made in June, VSZ held a
stake of 14.63%; another increase could give the firm control over one of
Slovakia's four most important financial institutions. VSZ President Jan Smerek
said his firm hopes to obtain a 40% stake. However, any purchase of 15% or more
of a bank's shares must gain the National Bank's approval. The NBS board
explained that IRB is to undergo restructuring of its loan portfolio with state
participation. VSZ has close ties to the government through Transport and
Communications Minister Alexander Rezes. "Even without the NBS's blessing, VSZ
has other possibilities to attain its goal," Smerek said. -- Sharon Fisher

GERMANY GRANTS MORE LOANS TO HUNGARY. During a two-day visit to Germany
by Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn, German federal and state governments
granted DM 1 billion ($650 million) in loans to Hungary, Hungarian dailies
reported on 3 October. The Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavarian governments granted
DM 250 million each, while Germany's federal government approved DM 500 million
to support small and medium-size companies and German-Hungarian joint ventures.
The loan agreement follows a similar deal signed in October 1995. Horn later
flew to Munich to deliver a speech at today's ceremony marking the anniversary
of German reunification. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

IZETBEGOVIC AND MILOSEVIC MEET IN PARIS. Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic and Alija Izetbegovic, Muslim member of the Bosnian presidency, began
talks in Paris on 3 October, Reuters reported. Milosevic said the purpose of
the meeting was "strengthening stability in the region." French officials said
the talks would focus on building peace in Bosnia and normalizing mutual
relations. The private talks will be followed by separate meetings with French
President Jacques Chirac and the international community's High Representative
Carl Bildt. -- Fabian Schmidt

BOSNIAN MUSLIMS AND CROATS AGREE ON ARMY JOINT COMMAND. Muslim
presidency member Alija Izetbegovic and his Croatian counterpart Kresimir Zubak
signed a document on 2 October establishing a joint command for the federal
army. That new body will consist of the former mainly Muslim government army
and the former Croatian Defense Council (HVO). Its commander will be the
government army's chief, Gen. Rasim Delic, and his deputy will be the HVO's
Gen. Zivko Budimir, Oslobodjenje reported. Making the Croat-Muslim
federation work has been difficult on all levels, however, and no aspect has
been as problematic as integrating the two armies. -- Patrick Moore

MORE MUJAHEDIN FOR BOSNIA? The Bosnian federal police arrested 24 Iraqis
and four Jordanians on 1 October, two days after they arrived illegally on a
Jordanian peacekeepers' plane. An IFOR spokesman said that IFOR's intelligence
experts are looking into the Bosnian Interior Ministry report on the arrests,
Reuters reported on 2 October. NATO previously said it is satisfied that Bosnia
has ended its military relationship with Iran and dissolved training camps for
Islamic fighters. Reports nonetheless periodically emerge of small-scale
training facilities (including those for terrorists) or of small groups of
mujahedin operating on Muslim-controlled territory. -- Patrick Moore

DRUG ARRESTS IN WESTERN HERZEGOVINA. In Mostar, police announced that
they recently found and destroyed a 200-stalk field of opium poppies near
Ljubuski and have charged two men in the case, Onasa reported on 2 October. The
police also indicted several other people in conjunction with five hemp
plantations in the Mostar area. Western Herzegovina was long known as one of
the former Yugoslavia's centers for cannabis and hemp growing, and more
recently it has become linked to organized crime. Elsewhere in Bosnia, police
arrested a man in conjunction with the recent murder of the Roman Catholic nun
Sister Danka on Muslim-held territory (see OMRI Daily Digest, 2 October
1996). The man, Josip Cokara, has a history of drug and alcohol problems,
Oslobodjenje noted on 3 October. -- Patrick Moore

OPPOSITION LEADS IN SERBIAN OPINION POLL. Former Central Bank Governor
Dragoslav Avramovic's opposition coalition is supported by 28.5% of Serbs,
while the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's coalition has only 24.2%
support, according to a poll conducted for Vreme by an independent
agency. The poll, conducted between 26 and 30 September, asked 1,000 people in
26 communities throughout Serbia, but excluding Kosovo, whom they plan to vote
for in the 3 November Serbo-Montenegrin elections. Meanwhile, the Reform
Democratic Party of Vojvodina and the Democratic Center party have joined
Avramovic's coalition, which includes the Serbian Renewal Movement, the
Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Serbia, the Citizens' Union and the
independent trade unions. -- Fabian Schmidt

CROATIA ADOPTS NEW MEDIA LAW. Croatian parliament passed a new media law
on 2 October protecting journalists from demands that they reveal their sources
and from charges in cases where they publish false information unintentionally,
Vjesnik reported. However, provisions prescribing fines and imprisonment
for reporters who insult top state officials were retained. The ruling Croatian
Democratic Community said the new law was as "liberal as any European law," and
fulfilled 90 percent of the Council of Europe's requirements, international
agencies reported. Opposition deputies convinced the governing party to drop an
amendment requiring newspapers to pay for mandatory insurance to fund any
possible trials against them. Recently, more than 15 reporters were fired from
the pro-government daily Vjesnik; independent daily Novi List was
fined a large amount for alleged customs violations; and applications for
broadcast frequencies by many independent TV and radio stations were rejected.
-- Daria Sito Sucic

UN OFFERS TO BUY WEAPONS FROM CROATIAN SERBS. The UN and the Croatian
government began a project of buying up the weapons stored in Croatian Serbs'
private stocks in eastern Slavonia, international agencies reported on 2
October. This last Serb-held area slated to revert to Croatian control was
officially demilitarized in August, but the demilitarization did not include
privately owned weapons kept in cellars and other secret storage places. UN
authorities offered to pay $120 per working automatic rifle, $150 per machine
gun, and $20 per hand grenade. The prices of other items are negotiable and
faulty weapons are bought for half-price. But Serbs say the deal will not work
because they do not trust the Croats and the offers are too low. -- Daria Sito
Sucic

MASS GRAVE IN EASTERN CROATIA HOLDS VUKOVAR HOSPITAL PATIENTS. Evidence
suggests that the more than 80 bodies unearthed from the Ovcara grave site in
eastern Croatia are the Vukovar hospital patients killed by Serbs in 1991,
according to William Haglund, an expert working for the International Criminal
Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. The grave is widely believed to contain some
260 bodies of Vukovar hospital patients killed when the town fell to Serbs in
1991 after a three-month siege. Haglund said on 2 October that the bodies are
all male and items found with them show they were patients, international
agencies reported. He said at least 40 more bodies are in the grave's first
layer, and that the grave has proved to be deeper than expected. -- Daria Sito
Sucic

ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY DISCUSS NATO
EXPANSION. Teodor Melescanu and William Perry met at the Pentagon on 2
October to discuss U.S.-Romanian relations and Romania's prospects for joining
NATO, Romanian media reported. Melescanu said Perry appreciated Romania's
efforts to meet the criteria for NATO admittance, and that Perry said the
signing of the Romanian-Hungarian basic treaty and the very active
U.S.-Romanian military cooperation were serious arguments in favor of admitting
Romania. Perry further praised Romania's participation in NATO's Partnership
for Peace program and in the IFOR mission in Bosnia, Melescanu said. The
Romanian minister is on a visit to the United States and Canada primarily aimed
at boosting Romania's chances of being included among the first group of
countries to join NATO. -- Zsolt Mato

SNEGUR DENOUNCES HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE DNIESTER REGION.
Moldovan President Mircea Snegur appealed to international human rights
organizations, the OSCE, and Russian and Ukrainian leaders on 2 October to use
their influence to prevent further violations of human rights against ethnic
Moldovans in the breakaway Dniester region, Infotag reported. The message
focused on the "school war" waged by Dniester separatists against
Romanian-language schools in the region that opted for Latin letters. Local
authorities recently closed down two schools in the towns of Grigoriopol and
Slobozia for having replaced the Cyrillic alphabet with the Latin one. Pupils,
teachers, and parents have been protesting the move. -- Dan Ionescu

BULGARIAN POLITICIANS CONDEMN LUKANOV MURDER. Political forces and
institutions on 2 October condemned the murder of former Prime Minister Andrey
Lukanov as an attack on democracy, Bulgarian and Western media reported. The
parliament unanimously declared that it will not allow a "terrorist act" to
lead to a state of emergency and that the presidential elections will go ahead
as planned. It said the murder "will not deflect Bulgaria from the path of
social and economic reform." President Zhelyu Zhelev, after meeting with the
Consultative Council for National Security, said the murder must not be allowed
to fuel tension in the presidential election campaign. He said the fight
against terrorism and organized crime "requires the united efforts of all
institutions and cooperation with all countries." Prime Minister Zhan Videnov
called the murder an attempt at destabilization and said the government will do
everything possible to apprehend and punish the murderers. -- Stefan Krause

MOTIVES FOR LUKANOV MURDER REMAIN IN THE DARK. Police have so far not
indicated whether they have a firm lead in former Bulgarian Prime Minister
Andrey Lukanov's murder, and it remains unclear whether the motives for the
killing are political, economic, or both. While many observers seek the motives
for the murder in the realm of politics, Lukanov's role as a successful
businessman with ties to influential -- and sometimes controversial -- business
groups has fueled speculation that the murder might have an economic rather
than political background. One theory links the killing with Lukanov's former
post as head of the Russian-Bulgarian Topenergy company. Meanwhile, police
reportedly arrested an elderly man looking like a tramp near Lukanov's home. An
eyewitness had said she saw a tall man dressed like a tramp in the days before
the murder and also shortly before the shooting in the immediate vicinity of
Lukanov's house. -- Stefan Krause

ALBANIA RATIFIES EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS CONVENTIONS. The Albanian
parliament ratified the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Liberties on 2 October, and another prohibiting torture and inhuman or
degrading treatment, AFP reported. Albania also recognized the right of appeal
for individuals to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The ratification
requires "immediate" compliance with the human rights convention, but the
anti-torture convention will only become Albanian law on 1 March 1997. It will
then allow Council of Europe experts free access to prisons and other detention
centers. -- Fabian Schmidt

ALBANIAN LOCAL ELECTION UPDATE. The Center Pole coalition issued a
protest to the Central Electoral Commission against a ruling banning people
under the age of 28 from participating in the vote count as observers, Poli
i Qendres reported on 3 October. The Center Pole called the age limit
absurd and charged the commission with overstepping its competence and
preparing election manipulations. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party held a rally
in Tirana's Congress Palace to introduce its Tirana mayoral candidate Agim
Fagu. Elsewhere the same day, a Council of Europe delegation met with President
Sali Berisha to discuss the upcoming ballot. -- Fabian Schmidt